Romney, Ryan, and Rapport

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan seem to get along well; that, anyway, is one of the most immediate conclusions of observers of the men and the campaign. The Boston Globe wrote about their “easy rapport,” and quoted Romney as saying, at a NASCAR-themed rally, “I am so happy, I am so happy to have my teammate now, the two of us.” The Times talked about the flip side—how Romney “was already missing his new running mate”:

“Do I get to see him until the inauguration?” Mr. Romney asked an aide.

Representative Paul D. Ryan, sitting a few inches away on a leather bench in a campaign bus, compared schedules with his new boss. “Ohio,” Mr. Romney said, ticking off coming campaign stops.

“Oh yeah, I think I’m going to Ohio, too,” Mr. Ryan replied.

Mr. Romney looked relieved.

That sense of dispelled anxiety is part of the reason that what is a fairly bland observation—the man running for President chose a running mate he likes—seems noteworthy. With the decision made, Romney acts as though he has been relieved of the awful dread that politics means intimacy with people who are very different than he is—whether in character, temperament, class, or background.

The rapport rhetoric is not unheard of; it was part of the talk after Bill Clinton chose Al Gore. That story included their wives: two youngish couples, out of the New South, embarking on a grand, fun, electoral adventure. (It didn’t work out quite so happily, at least on a personal level.) The Clinton theory of Vice-Presidents was to choose a near doppelganger; others choose a contrast (Obama: older, more experienced; McCain: younger, a woman, weirder). What is striking is that Romney seems to feel that he has selected a younger version of himself, if that self had chosen, or been pushed on, a slightly different path.

Both of them grew up in the Midwest, sons of successful fathers. Romney’s family money came from cars; Ryan’s from a construction firm that built, among other things, railroad embankments and suburban subdivisions—according to the company’s Web site, it did “some of the original work at what would become O’Hare Airport.” (Will we hear about the role of the government’s investment in infrastructure in the growth of the family business?) In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Romney talked about how his own ideas of leadership had come from watching his father; in introducing and talking about Ryan, he has emphasized how the younger man’s loss of his father changed him. In their first interview together, with “60 Minutes,” Romney said,

There are a lot of people who go to Washington or go to their state houses with a personal ambition in mind. Paul had a very different course laid out for his life. And became convinced that he was needed to try and get the country back on track.

What is Romney saying there, about politics as a profession? Perhaps that there are grubby public servants and shiny ones. Perhaps there are, but do background and alternate professional options decide which is which? In the “60 Minutes” interview, Romney also resisted, slightly, the idea that the election might be, as Bob Schieffer put it, a “referendum” on Ryan’s budget plan (and see James Surowiecki on why that would be an interesting conversation, and maybe a tricky one for the G.O.P.): “Well, I have my budget plan as you know that I’ve put out. And that’s the budget plan that we’re going to run on.” That remark may presage conflict ahead, but for the moment, at any rate, Romney is glowing.